Brian Walton's news and commentary on the St. Louis Cardinals (TM) and their minor league system

Stacking Pujols up against other career Cardinals

Some assessments of the contract situation between Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals suggest the team has lost all negotiating leverage with the player. As such, the club must eventually pay whatever the player demands to keep him, goes this line of thinking.

Such a narrow view does not take into account a number of important counterbalances, including one that may hold a more lasting value for Pujols than temporarily becoming baseball’s highest-paid player.

I am referring to Pujols’ quest to become a career-long franchise icon, the likes of which has not been seen in St. Louis since Stan Musial.

Other than perhaps Pujols himself, no one knows the relative importance of these two factors – maximizing money and years in his next contract versus his attempt to eventually replace Musial as being accepted as the greatest Cardinal ever – or at least earn a spot next to Stan the Man on the top pedestal.

As Pujols’ self-imposed Wednesday contract negotiating deadline nears, some who are attuned to pulse of the fan as measured by message board posts and radio call-in shows are sensing a turn of opinion in support of the position of the Cardinals over their first baseman. Of course, these opinions have been set without any substantive knowledge of the contract parameters being discussed.

If Pujols eventually decides to leave St. Louis behind, his only home as a major leaguer, he would forfeit his place on the following top 15 list. It is a unique group of players, pulled by researcher Tom Orf.

The following are those men who have played the most games as a Cardinal without having appeared in even one game as a major leaguer while wearing another uniform.

Most games played, entire career with St. Louis Cardinals

Rank

Player

Games

Start Year

End Year

Age

1

Stan Musial

3026

1941

1963

20-42

2

Albert Pujols

1558

2001

2010*

21-30

3

Terry Moore

1298

1935

1948

23-36

4

Pepper Martin

1189

1928

1944

24-40

5

Tom Pagnozzi

927

1987

1998

24-35

6

Whitey Kurowski

916

1941

1949

23-31

7

Mike Shannon

882

1962

1970

22-30

8

Yadier Molina

805

2004

2010*

21-27

9

Ray Blades

767

1922

1932

25-35

10

Ernie Orsatti

701

1927

1935

24-32

11

Bob Gibson

596

1959

1975

23-39

12

Skip Schumaker

586

2005

2010*

25-30

13

Rube Ellis

555

1909

1912

23-26

14

Specs Toporcer

546

1921

1928

22-29

15

Austin McHenry

543

1918

1922

22-26

* current

Not surprisingly, Pujols is currently second, but a very distant second. To put his challenge into context, even if he could maintain a 150-game per season pace, it would take Pujols another complete decade to pass Musial. In contract terms, it would require nine more years with the club after his existing commitment expires.

If achieved, Albert would be 41 years old at the time. Note that there is no way to speed up ones’ pace in ascending this list. Growing career games played requires both durability and good fortune. Avoiding wars would help, too.

A pair of Musial’s former teammates, centerfielder Terry Moore and outfielder/third baseman Pepper Martin, each of whose service time with St. Louis was interrupted by World War II, are the only two other lifetime Cardinals with over 1,000 career games played. Having missed three seasons each, they would both still likely be ahead of Pujols had they been able to play contiguously.

By definition, this list is skewed toward everyday position players and away from those that appear less frequently, specifically pitchers. As such, Bob Gibson is the only hurler in the top 15, ranked at number 11 in exclusive career games played despite 17 years of service with the club.

Along with Pujols, two other current Cardinals are among the top 15. Yadier Molina is eighth and should pass the top catcher on the list, Tom Pagnozzi, during the 2011 season. Second baseman Skip Schumaker is 12th. Of course, Molina and Schumaker would disappear from this list if they were to eventually join another organization.